Nike We Run KL 21km, my second half marathon

So today I ran my second half marathon, wuhuu~

I would say I was well prepared than the last half marathon(Cyberjaya). Clocked decent mileage throughout my training and took care of my nutrition and had a good rest. I have to thank my sparring partners Rauzan, Mat, Haziq, Maz and my coach Abg Din for the support and guidance to prepare for the Nike We Run KL. Not to forget all my running and non running friends especially my housemates for their support and advice.

So I reached Stadium Merdeka with Abg Din and in a while Rauzan joined us for warm up, after the MC start calling the participant to the starting line we walked to Petaling Street and get into the starting line. I know it was going to be a fast race with strong contenders like Abg Din, Jean Pierre (JP) , Jasni, Abg Affindi, Karthik, and other fast runners. After the flag off,  first few km was fast with JP leading the pack, and after reaching Dataran Merdeka, I slowed down and the leading pack gone further. After few km, I managed to chase another runner and I maintained my pace to run along with him, but he seem to be inconsistent and ask me to go first, and I can see Jasni in front of me and I tried to close my gap between him, but it gets stretched and I just maintained till I reached 10km and I see my friend Choon Sieng(CS) (who ran with me during Cyberjaya HM), and we ran together till some KM before reaching the starting point Petaling Street again, and there this boy Prethibkumar from Arul Thevar’s Running Club with a beautiful stride came and took over me and CS, and after few hundreds meter I start to follow this boy. CS couldn’t keep up with us, I wish CS could could pace together as his pace work well for me.

After passing the starting point we took on a fly over and I run together with this boy, his pace was fast but I managed to follow him till 17km where he dropped, and I saw Jasni and I followed him and he let me pass by him.  I could see JP, Abg Din, Karthik and Affindi did running on the other side of the road after the U turn. After I did the u turn, I take my second power gel and sip a drink at water station. I heard people calling my names throughout the race and  Jason was cheering at BHP, that gave me an extra boost (Thank you people!), and I pushed my self climbing the mini hill just before entering the stadium. WOAH, when I enter the stadium I felt taking part in Olympic games, there was sound of people cheering and applauding(which was a recording -_-‘ ) and pushed myself till the last 300m and clocked 1:22:36. Four minutes different then the last HM, which was off my target, I was hoping for 1:18, but I still need more training I guess.

It was a well organized race with enough water stations, paramedics along the routes, enough volunteers to guide the runner, cyclist marshals, and for the Muslim runners, there was Surau prepared with telekungs for the ladies.

There was some hiccups and misunderstanding regarding my category in the race, but I’m not gonna talk about it anymore. To comfort me, a friend said its just another bad race, there’s more coming and he reminded me of the unfortunate two runner from our previous race together. For me, this are the valuable moments I gained from running, a friend who only paced you for two races and strangely he can lift you up and make you feel good again with his words.

I’m feeling good and strong and I’m ready for next race. For my running friends out there, reward yourself for completing Nike We Run KL, and see you in next race. 🙂

Some of the photo’s are grabbed from Kevin  and Chan.